27.01.

1836: Who was Masoch, after whom the Term “Masochism” was Coined?

At the age of 33 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch wrote his probably most famous work “Venus in Fur”. It is a novel that speaks of a man who becomes a sex slave of a woman named Wanda von Dunajew.

Most people today know, from general knowledge, that the term sadism was named after the Marquis de Sade, but not many know by whom masochism was named. To be precise, masochism was named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, who was born exactly on this day in 1836. He was born on the territory of the former Austrian Empire, more precisely, in the city of Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine). Sacher-Masoch bore a title of knight (Ritter) and the noble attribute “von”. So, his full name with the title was “Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch”.

At 33, Sacher-Masoch wrote his probably most famous work: Venus in Fur. It is a novel that speaks of a man who becomes a sex slave of a woman named Wanda von Dunajew. At his request, she humiliates him in ways that are more and more brutal, and then recruits a trio of African women to dominate him. There is a theory that Sacher-Masoch, through this story, expressed his own fantasies and fetishes. Apparently he liked dominant women wearing fur. Sacher-Masoch allegedly tried to experiences his fantasies in real life. So, in 1869, he supposedly signed a contract with Baroness Fanny Pistor, making him her slave for six months, and in return, she had to wear furs as often as possible.